Putin on terrorist threats: there is a need to intensify control over migrants, special services should work more effectively
MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax) - The special services should work more effectively to prevent situations such as the one that happened in the St. Petersburg metro, and tough control should be established over migration flows, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"Firstly, I understand our citizens' concerns. We are registering very many events that we see as a threat to national security coming from militants that filtered through the former Soviet Union republics. This applies not only to Central Asia, but also to other republics," Putin said in an interview with Mir television, responding to a question about the attitude to the idea of cancelling visa-free travel to fully stop labor migration from the former Soviet republics in the wake of the tragedy in St. Petersburg.
"Today's world is such that it is impossible to fully stop migration. This applies not only to Russia, this applies to virtually all countries. The issue is to establish tough control over these migration flows," Putin said.
An overwhelming majority of the people who come to Russia look for work, Putin said. "The creation of such an organization as the Eurasian Economic Union envisages free movement of the workforce, capitals, services and goods. And it is a huge advantage for the development of all our countries, a huge advantage. And today's world is such that success or failure in the sphere of economics decide the future of whole regions. Therefore, it is a key issue of our life and our future," Putin said.
"Economic success is impossible without integration, that's how today's world is made. Therefore, it is impossible to just turn something on or off for objective reasons. The special services should just work better, more efficiently, and, if we speak about economic processes, we should not forget about our cooperation in the sphere of security. That's what the CSTO was made for," the president said.